off to the countryside soon

After eating omelets and drinking mango juice, Russell, the lead guide, checked our gear. We then toured some Buddhist temples, ate lunch, shopped and now I am supposed to be napping while Alec went up to the roof to fuss with his iPhone.

Early in the morning we hop a flight to the countryside and begin trying to catch up to the rest of the gang, who are two days ahead of us owing to our late arrival because of Redoubt.

We bumped into our friends from Texas, who are trekking/climbing with another company, and we’ll be meeting them for dinner later.

The food at our hotel is scrumptious. The fruit and vegetables have far more flavor than anything available in Alaska. Most notable are the tomatoes. I had forgotten that tomatoes could be so good. The cucumbers and carrots are also more tasty than what I have eaten in years. And when you order curry in Nepal, they don’t mess around. It’s hot. And I mean H-O-T.

Russell seems pretty cool. He said we have heavier gear than what he normally sees. He tried on Alec’s beloved beaver summit mittens and remarked on the weight compared with down. But he also said one of the sherpas uses fur mittens.

In the morning, we are either catching a commercial flight to Lukla or we are getting on an old Russian military helicopter that will take us a little higher and closer to the rest of the group.